What Could Go Wrong?
by My Chemical Romance's Bandit
Summary: Valkyrie is gone, sucked into a parrallel dimension. There is no official plan to save her... But since when does Skulduggery need a plan? BASED AFTER THE FACELESS ONES! *may contain spoilers*
1. Prologue - When Back Things Get Worse

**Okay! So I'm going to stop writing about the chipmunks for a while now, and start writing about Skulduggery Pleasant, who is absolutely AWESOME! As is Derek Landy, obviously.**

**This is set at the end(ish) of the third book, the Faceless Ones.**

**SERIOUS SPOILER ALERT IN THE FOLLOWING FEW CHAPTERS! I would advise you NOT to read them, unless you have read Death Bringer already. Some of the ideas in this story have been taken from the book and altered to fit alongside the story.**

**DISCALIMER: I do not own Skulduggery Pleasant, Valkyrie Cain (/Stephanie Edgley), Tanith Low, Ghastly Bespoke, China Sorrows, Jaron Gallow, Fletcher Renn, The Faceless Ones, Batu, or Kenspeckle Grouse. Along with any other characters, or character histories. I did not come up with most of the ideas in the following story, I have twisted the plot lines of the books to create this story, and I hope you will enjoy it. Only the OCs and the plotline belong to me, and my brain. The characters, and ideas belong to Derek Landy. Also, I do realise that some of the characters in this story are dead by the end of Kingdom Of the Wicked, but it's easier if we leave it as it is at the end of the Faceless Ones. Forget what happens at the end of all the other books.**

**What Could Go wrong?**

**Prologue - When Bad a things Get Worse.**

* * *

_You've seen it all before, some bad guy wants to bring about the end of the world. A few people get hurt, sure, but everything's all right in the end. Well... Not this time._

* * *

Valkyrie could almost see Skulduggery being dragged away by the Faceless One, which was something she would not allow to happen. She stood up, fighting against nausea, and sprinted towards Skulduggery, who had jut driven the Faceless One back into the portal, when a tentacle had reached out and grabbed him. He was currently throwing balls of fire at the arm.

Just as the being was about to pull him through, and seal the portal, Valkyrie jumped, and using Sanguines knife, which he had carelessly dropped not too long ago, cut off the end of the tentacle. She grabbed Skulduggery and pulled him to his feet, and they ran.

About three strides into it, Valkyrie felt something wrap around her ankle, but the grip was so strong, and so intense, that she didn't even have time to yell out before she had hit the ground. The wind was knocked or of her, and she took a moment to regain her breath, then yelled "Skulduggery!"

The Skeleton Detective turned, and noticed his fallen companion, his face remained the same skull, but it was obvious he was shocked, he stood for half a moment, and a car exploded in the background.

He ran towards her, he pushed at the air to reach her, but even the marveled Skeleton Detective could not reach his friend in time.

Valkyrie kicked and struggled, and wondered where the hell her Necromancer ring had gotten to, she hurled fireballs, tried to take its arm apart from the inside, but nothing worked. She continued this, then paused and looked at Skulduggery, who had the background of fire and carnage, tears that she had not been able to cry brimming her eyes. She reached out a hand, saw the yellow edges of the portal, and whispered something so quiet she hardly heard it, though Skulduggery obviously heard it, as his head turned to a sympathetic angle as he covered the final paces metres in the blink of an eye.

"Goodbye."

Skulduggery dived, his hand latching onto her wrist, but he couldn't stop her being pulled into the yellow light. His shoe caught on a jagged rock, and his hand was pulled into hers, both trying to remain in this dimension. Skulduggery was still pulled onwards, and at one point, his shoe caught hold, and Valkyrie remained where she was, but he Faceless One gave a sudden heave, and Skulduggery's right foot came off, but still he held onto Valkyrie. She was suddenly at the portal, and Valkyrie said to Skulduggery

"Im sorry."

Skulduggery looked into her eyes.

"Don't be"

"Goodbye Skulduggery"

With that, she let go of his hand, so he didn't get pulled through the portal as well, and the yellow light closed around her tear stained face, and she was gone.

Valkyrie swore she could hear someone screaming her name before her vision turned red and clouded. Then, she heard a shriek, and dived for cover as a large bat-like creature descended upon her. She saw Batu walking towards her, his face as blank as a tile. His eyes had been melted, and his ears had disappeared, his nose had run off his face, and his mouth had sealed itself shut, all because of the God who inhabited his body.

Valkyrie turned, saw a sea of red, reaching out in every direction, then turned back again, and saw the large bat-like creatures. They were the size of buses, with their jagged tails doubling that easily. There were more of them now, they were getting nearer, too near in her opinion, for them to be friendly.

Valkyrie looked towards the sea of red, then back to the creatures.

_Risk of death through starvation, or de-hydration, or whatever versus Imminent death._

_Slow death - painful death up against Short, fast death, but possibly not less painful._

_A _slither_ of a hope she might see her family again compared to having None whatsoever._ How would Alice grow up without an older sister to watch out for her?

Valkyrie looked up at the creatures, and ran into the red.


	2. Chapter 1 - Making Your Way Back

Skulduggery bent over, picking up his foot, and re-attaching it to his leg, he walked over to the burning warehouse. A gentle rain started to fall, which was dousing the flames on the roof.

Skulduggery walked over to China Sorrows first, she was brushing off some dirt from her trousers, and taking note of the carnage surrounding her. Dead Cleavers littered the floor, which was more than unsettling for poor Fletcher, who was staggering over towards China and Skulduggery.

Ghastly walked over, and put a scarred hand on Fletcher's shoulder, giving it an understanding squeeze. The tailor smiled gently, despite the obvious fact it wasn't going to do any good, and turned his face skywards, just in time to see Tanith knock out the last of the sorcerers and jump down from the rafters. Landing on a bale of hay with a soft 'thud'.

"So, where's Valkyrie? Waiting back, tying her shoelaces?" asked Tanith, she hadn't seen anything, or heard anything, because she had been attacking Gallow, where their battle had taken them to the rafters. She looked back up, and Gallow was gone, retreated, which was about as much as Tanith expected from him.

Fletcher looked at her, utterly shocked. " What?! She was dragged into the portal by A Faceless One!"

Ghastly put his hand of Fletcher's shoulder and murmured loud enough for everyone to faintly hear him "She didn't know, she was taking care of Gallow."

Fletcher turned his attention back to Tanith. "Oh, I get it. So _you_ are allowed to try and beat up an old man, whilst my best friend is being dragged into a portal by a GOD?! How badly was he beating you up?! He must have been doing a pretty good job, if you couldn't hear both me and him SCREAMING at Valkyrie!" Said Fletcher, jerking his thumb at Skulduggery, who had the air of remorsefulness about him.

Tanith looked at him with fire in her eyes. "I was in the top of a sound proof bunk, fighting for my life, and you expect me to listen to you pleading with your girlfriend from there?!"

"Well, yeah! I mean, that way it might look like you at least _cared_."

Tanith blinked. "I'm sorry, but in case it had slipped your attention, I have known Valkyrie for _far_ longer than you have. I'm the equivalent of her sister for gods sake! And you think I don't care! What is _wrong_ with you?!" Fletcher looked like she had just stabbed him as she continued. "Remind me again, wasn't it _you_ who opened the portal in the first place?! Wasn't it you who couldn't shut it in time to save her?! Why didn't you shake Gallow? Because you knew eventually I would come and do the dirty work for you! And if you think for one moment I'm going to forgive you -"

"Tanith, leave it." Interrupted Ghastly. "He knows your right, except on possibly the last point, and it's tearing him up inside, I can see it in is eyes. Besides, if we want to get Valkyrie back, we have to work quickly, goodness knows how long she has. So, I would get working on opening up the gate."

China spoke before either Tanith or Fletcher got the chance. "I'm sorry to spoil your plan, Ghastly, but have you forgotten that Skulduggery threw the Grotesquery into the portal? Who exactly do you plan to open it again?"

Skulduggery spoke up for the first time in the conversation. "If Valkyrie has anything that is immediately linked to her. Say her right hand was chopped off, we could use that as the anchor to bring her back."

China raised an eyebrow at him "but _was_ her right hand chopped off? Because if it was, by all means, knock yourself out, the portal awaits you."

"Think now, what does Valkyrie always have on her, or always use that isn't here?"

"The pendant I gave her for her birthday?" Asked Fletcher after an awkward silence.

Skulduggery shook his head "she was wearing that when she went through."

Suddenly, a thought occurred to China "What about her ring? I didn't see her with it after her battle with Sanguine."

"I didn't see it in her hand when she went through" admitted Skulduggery "okay, find it."

Everyone split up, searching in different directions as Sanguine's fight with Valkyrie basically involved them wrestling each other all over the battlefield, with a lot of hand-to-hand battle. They all knew (except Tanith, but she was soon informed) that this was how Sanguine dropped his knife which was used by Valkyrie to prevent Skulduggery from being dragged away by a Faceless One. Which, rather unfortunately, resulted in _her_ being dragged away by the Faceless One.

Hey had all split up, Fletcher was scouring the edges of the woods, head low to the ground, when something caught his attention in the corner of his eye. He looked to the side in time to see a large silhouette disappearing into the woods. Fletcher followed.

When he was about one hundred metres away, Fletcher slowed to the speed in which the person ahead was walking. Eventually, he reached a clearing, and the man, from what Fletcher could make out, pulled out his phone, ans typed in a number, calling it once it was all typed in. Fletcher ducked behind a tree and listened.

There was silence for a moment, then,

"Ah boss, yeah, it's Gallow... No, the plan wasn't successful...I realise that, yes... Yes, the girl and the skeleton were involved... But it went wrong... No, the Faceless Ones did manage to get through... The girl killed a couple of them with the Sceptre... Yes, it exists, I didn't believe it either... Oh, no. She won't be causing any more trouble... One of the Faceless Ones tried to take the skeleton, but she wouldn't have it, and tried to attack it. Then it pulled her in instead... You don't sound too thrilled... Im sorry, is he there? Trace call. A bird is only worth the stone that brought it down you know... Okay. "

Fletcher hardly understood anything from the call.

Suddenly, Gallow turned onwards Fletcher, eyes locked on something behind him. Never in his life has Fletcher wanted to turn around so much, but he remained motionless nonetheless.

"Yeah, a bit faint... Shall I?... Okay."

Suddenly, Tesseract jumped out from behind Fletcher. But before Fletcher could call out for help, Skulduggery was standing before him, pushing him behind him, Tanith standing next to him, looking defensive. Suddenly, Ghastly burst out behind Tesseract, and caught him in a chokehold. He had to release Him when he noticed Tesseract's hand reaching towards his arm.

Behind them, China had the red symbols on her knuckles glowing, and was aiming punches at Gallows body. But Gallow ducked and dodged, and weaved, avoiding all of them. They were evenly matched. China tapped the symbols on her forearms, but before she could spread them out, Gallow punched her. Catching her in the corner of the jaw, she was thrown back, arms spreading slightly. The blue energy was released, because the energy was centred to be released in a small area of space, the shot was made even more powerful. It bent back trees, and knocked back everyone midway through battle, Tesseract included, who was being attacked by Skulduggery, Ghastly, Tanith and Fletcher all at once. It sent a fallen log into the bent tree trunks.

But not before it hit Fletcher full-force in the chest. Knocking him down so hard he didn't get up.

China didn't see this obviously, as Gallow kicked her in the head, hard, and she was out cold.

Tanith noticed Fletcher go down, and China unconscious on the roots of a tree. Her body tangled in the undergrowth surrounding it. She motioned to Skulduggery, who quickly caught her drift, and nodded his approval. She gave a savage kick to Tesseract's kneecap, which he barely avoided, then fell back, and turned her attention to Gallow. She attacked with her full-force, but she was tired, and aching, and let several hits through.

Tesseract was like a cornered tiger, but without the 'cornered' bit. He was attacking with all his ferocity, all his skill. And - little by little - he was defeating them. Skulduggery and Ghastly worked together watching each others backs, attacking in series, repeatedly. But they were getting more hits back than they had given respectively. Ghastly was tiring, and Tesseract could see this. He adjusted his technique, and caught Ghastly off guard with a sweep of his leg. He quickly stood, and resumed his attack. Skulduggery had, obviously, seen his leg and jumped, and Ghastly was hauling himself up off the floor, in obvious need of a rest. Skulduggery noticed his friend on the floor, and tried to give himself an edge so he could help him. No such opportunity occurred, as Tesseract could see this was what he was trying to do. Skulduggery took note, and changed his style, cracking the earth that Tesseract was standing on. Tesseract fell, but quickly rolled backwards, and, using his own momentum, shot a punch that would have sent Skulduggery back far into the forest, but he created a cushion of air, and it only sent him a few paces. Skulduggery used his sudden spring to hurtle himself forwards, and into Tesseract's chest, but made a feint, and took out his legs. They were both sent sprawling, Skulduggery on top.

Skulduggery quickly stood, and kicked Tesseract's head, then he pulled out a pair of handcuffs. He was just about to snap them on Tesseract's wrists when he reached out, and touched Skulduggery on his lower Tibia, just bellow the bottom of his trousers. There were several 'snap!' s, and the Skeleton Detective was sent sprawling. Screaming his anguish.

Ghastly looked over from Gallow, and saw Skulduggery sprawled on the floor. He signalled to Tanith, who looked exhausted and threw a small knife from her jacket at Tesseract, which he defended easily. Gallow noticed the pair side-tracked, and kicked out at the back of Tanith's legs. He hit her in the crook of her knee, and she was down. Ghastly sent a right hook at Gallow, which he ducked under and sent a punch of his own. It hit Ghastly in the stomach, and he bent over. Gallow seized his opportunity and kicked Ghastly in the shoulder, and he was sent down, knocking his head on the floor, and he was playing on the edge of consciousness.

By now, Tanith was rising, a good couple of metres away from Gallow. But before she could stand, Tesseract was behind her. He punched her in the back, and caught her as she swung forwards, his right hand gripping her left wrist. He felt the bones crack and Tanith fell to the ground, screaming. Tesseract gave a savage kick to her head as he passed, she was out cold.

Gallow and Tesseract met up in the middle of the clearing. They murmured in low whipsered for a clue of seconds, and Tesseract bent down to pick up Fletcher's body. They were just turning to leave when Gallow swerved to the side to avoid an oncoming bullet. He hurtled around, and glared at Skulduggery, who was advancing slowly, gun in hand and arm outstretched. Gallow looked at Tesseract fleetingly, knowing he had heard Skulduguggery's tibia and quite possibly his fibula break. He didn't react. Tesseract tackled him from behind, and gave Skulduggery a punch that caught him in the corner of the jaw. Sending him flying backwards into a tree with a oud 'thud!' He didn't move. Nobody did but Tesseract who - using Skulduggerys handcuffs - secured Fletcher's hands behind his back. As Fletcher was starting to come round.

Then, Tesseract and Gallow departed.

* * *

When Skulduggery's head stopped spinning, he hauled himself to his feet, grunted, and fell again. Noting his broken ankle and foot with care. All around him, he saw his comrades rising. Ghastly stood over him, and gave him a sympathetic look to which Skulduggery tilted his head in amusement. Ghastly helped him to his foot, and draped his arm arund his shoulder.

"God, I feel like someone in a home." muttered Skulduggery in annoyance.

Ghastly chuckled to himself, and said "Well, you _are over _four hundred years old."

"I'm fit as a fiddle thank you!" Skulduggery tried to stand, but fell, and was caught by Ghastly.

"You know, me helping you to walk says otherwise."

Skulduggery growled. "I want a stick or something."

"I'll get you one for your birthday, if it makes you feel any better."

"Which one? My actual birthday or my 'day I was re-born' birthday? To be honest, the first is coming up quite soon. Tomorrow in fact."

Ghasly sighed, and propped Skulduggery up against a tree. He reached a skeletal hand up, and grabbed hold of a lower branch. Once he was balanced, he pulled himself up with cat-like ease and sat on the edge. Observing what took place bellow.

First, Ghastly helped Tanith to her feet. She was shaken, but accepted his hand graciously.

Ghastly went and helped Tanith to her feet, offering a hand. When she pulled herself up, she walked over to China, who lay somehow elegantly on the floor, even covered with blood and dirt. Whilst Ghastly went to find a stick for Skulduggery so he wouldn't have to drape him over his shoulder.

China's eyes fluttered open, they were glazed over, before suddenly getting an air of calm over them once more. She gracefully pulled herself to her feet, and staggered back, leaning heavily on the tree for a couple of moments, trying to regain her thoughts.

"You look disgruntled China" said Skulduggery.

China almost shrieked. But that would not have been appropriate for China Sorrows, so instead she turned upwards to the branch that Skulduggery was resting on, and shook her head.

"I have been in heavy battle all afternoon, attacked by a feared sorcerer, knocked out, and thrown against a tree whilst accidentally aiding my nemesis' in kidnapping a loyal companion of mine. Not to mention see the strongest and most dangerous men I know sent to the floor screaming because of a mere TOUCH to their leg. I think 'disgruntled' is the best you will ever see from a lady after experiencing that."

Skulduggery nodded his head. "You make a fair point China, but you AREN'T a lady in that's sense are you? You are something else, you don't come under category. Your just... China Sorrows. And what can I say? I'm pleased about that. Greatly..."

There was a moments silence.

"You said they took Fletcher. Which direction?" Asked Skulduggery.

"I wouldn't know. I was too busy being thrown against a tree!"

"Let's not argue. Please China."

"Okay, I'm sorry. Now, how long have I been out?"

"I couldn't tell you precisely, but I believe about three hours. That, or we have all been unconscious for over a day. Which I doubt highly."

"Any more information you would like to share?"

"Fletcher is fine."

"That's nice to know, but how do YOU know? I thought you were unconscious?" Asked China skeptically.

"I didn't pass out. I _can't_ pass out. I can, however, be reduced to my meditative state. If, say, my consciousness cannot bear pain it does that, like yours. I shot at Gallow and Tesseract attacked me... It wasn't a fair fight in the least."

"Obviously." China was regaining her air of calm and graciousness.

Ghastly returned, with a long stick. It was slightly shorter than Skulduggery was, but was the perfect height to be used as a prop-up. Skulduggery swung down from the tree, and muttered "thanks."

Ghastly shrugged, and replied "happy birthday. I'm not getting you anything, you know."

Skulduggery sighed. By now, everyone was standing, and gathering around Skulduggery, who hopped into the middle of the clearing, everyone surrounding him to see what he would say.

"Okay, wh are you standing there? Oh, wait a second, motivational speech, right. Okay, so Fletcher has been kidnapped, and Valkyrie has been dragged into the Facles Ones' territory. We need an anchoridge find the ring, get Fletcher back, open the portal and get Back Valkyrie. Got it?"

Everyone nodded, except China, who looked sceptical.

"I don't believe it's still here."

"And why would that be?"

"I saw Sangiune, he picked up his knife and Valkyrie's necromancer ring, and left. I could probably show you."

Skulduggery nodded. "I think I believe you China. Now, let's get going."

Skulduggery walked over to his Bentley, and Ghastly got into his van. China rode in the Bentley whilst Tanith got on her motorbike, Skulduggery started up the engines, and they were gone.

* * *

***Later that evening***

Skulduggery sighed, and put his skull on his gloved hands.

"This is geting us nowhere. Okay, Ghastly, talk to Guild. China, you know what to do. Tanith, think you can track anyone down who might know them?"

Tanith nodded, and exited the room, she was followed by Ghastly and China.

Skulduggery headed out to the Bentley after locking up his house, and headed in the direction of Roarhaven, he knew exactly where Fletcher would be.


End file.
